CISPA resurrected, privacy concerns continue

We already know the United States conducts legal phone-tapping, but will a newly resurrected bill lead to lawful government internet tapping? The controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, more commonly known as CISPA, was reintroduced to the House of Representatives on Thursday. CISPA would allow companies to share information, including private communications, with the government for national security purposes.

CISPA resurrected, privacy concerns continue

The authors of CISPA argue the bill is necessary to protect the United States against cyber attacks from countries like China and Iran. Dutch Ruppersberger, one of the US congressmen who reintroduced CIPSA argued in a Baltimore Sun op-ed:

Preventing the U.S. government from sharing information about malicious computer code it detects is akin to preventing forecasters from warning citizens about a hurricane.baltimoresun.com

Many citizens are worried about the threat CISPA may pose to their online privacy.

The only cyber security threat facing us is the government passing legislation that eliminates internet privacy and net neutrality. #CISPAAbby Martin

Other advocacy groups, Demand Progress and Fight for the Future, electronically delivered over 300,000 signatures against CISPA to the Representatives who reintroduced it. The groups also created the Twitter account @CISPApetition. The account's first few tweets explain the purpose of the organisations.

Dear @RepMikeRogers @Call_Me_Dutch. #CISPA 2.0 has NOT addressed privacy concerns. Over 1 Million #NoCISPA signatures have been collected.#CISPA Kills Privacy

We will tweet a portion of these signatures with private information redacted to @RepMikeRogers and @Call_Me_Dutch. These users say #NoCISPA#CISPA Kills Privacy

Throughout the day, @CISPApetition continued to tweet the names of those who signed the CISPA petition.